


A Grimm Realization

by ForwardFlight



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But most everything is the same till volume 6, F/F, F/M, On Hiatus, Splits after volume 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-10-19 18:10:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20661533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForwardFlight/pseuds/ForwardFlight
Summary: Hello everyone. I know this series just started and I almost have Chapter 2 done, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to put it on hold as I just can’t figure out the end game. I’ve spent weeks trying to write the story outline, and it never gets to where I want it to be. So until I have a breakthrough with this plot I’m going to have to put it on hold as I just can’t find a way to continue it that I enjoy. I wish you all the best and know that I do hope to come back here one day as I love the idea of Grimm Pyrrha and the dark nature that I’ve build. But without a direction I don’t feel I can do the story justice.Keep moving forward everyone!Through an act of the divine was man and Grimm made one. But man has never feared playing God. “Science will find a way,” they say, and for good or Ill, it does.What if Pyrrha survived her encounter with Cinder, but she was found by Dr. Merlot and saved in a way only he could think of. (aka Grimm Pyrrha)





	1. Capter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all. I’ve had this idea kicking around for a couple of years, and I finally feel like it’s to a place where I can start it. Unfortunately, this story will likely be updated about as regularly as the Silver trilogy. But know that I have every intention of finishing that and this story. Life continues to be chaotic, and writing occurs when mental health and life allow. 
> 
> But I hope you enjoy it! If you have any suggestions or feedback, I’d love to hear it. 
> 
> And as always, “Keep moving forward.”

Pyrrha gasped in pain, collapsing to the ground as the arrow tore through her achilleas tendon. She needed to get up! She needed to fight! 

She struggled onto her hands and knees, trying to stand only to hear the sound of breaking glass as more pain shot through her leg. Looking down, she saw both ends of the arrow had broken off the glass arrow had broken apart inside her leg. 

The clicking of heels grounded Pyrrha enough to focus through the pain. Gritting her teeth, she raised her head and glared at the woman who had caused so much pain and suffering. 

Cinder Fall looked back at her with a contemptuous smile on her face. Pyrrha felt Cinder’s hand grab her face, “It’s unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours.” Pyrrha stared back as the women’s smile turned smug. “But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined.” 

Pyrrha refused to be patronized by this witch any more. She had caused so many deaths, so much destruction. She pulled herself out of Cinder’s grip and through the pain asked, “Do you believe in destiny?” 

Cinder burst out laughing, but there was nothing funny about it. Her laugh sounded cold and heartless. “Yes, and do you know why?” Pyrrha didn’t get a chance to answer before Cinder grabbed her ponytail and started dragging her to the edge of the tower. Pyrrha fought to resist but could let out a cry of pain as the glass shards in her ankle embedded themselves deeper into the wound. “Look at this city!” 

Cinder gestured out towards the city of Vale, a haven of safety and security now crumbling to the ground. Fires burned across the skyline as Grimm dove out of the sky. Goliaths marched down the streets leveling buildings as deathstalkers burrowed out of the earth, and Ursa climbed buildings. Pyrrha felt a burning at the corners of her eyes, and she blinked back tears. Whether from the horror before her or the pain, Pyrrha wasn’t sure, but she’d be damned if Cinder saw that. 

“This is what happens when you have power! You can do whatever you like! And I poor deluded girl have power!” 

Pyrrha couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You, you wanted this to happen? All those people killed, and you’re pleased?” 

Cinder smiled down at her. “You’re too naïve to understand, but this is only the beginning. As I told you, you couldn’t imagine how I’ll use this power.” 

If you had asked Pyrrha earlier this day if someone was truly evil, she would have told you that was crazy. Everyone had good in them. No one could be truly evil. Now she wasn’t so sure. Looking up into those amber eyes, Pyrrha saw no remorse, no pity at all and her resolve returned. 

She couldn’t stand, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still fight. Cinder’s grip on her hair had relaxed during her rant, and Pyrrha took her chance, driving her elbow into Cinder’s stomach. 

Cinder doubled over releasing Pyrrha. 

Throwing her weight into Cinder, Pyrrha sent them both falling to the ground. A flash of hope starred in Pyrrha as she scrabbled to her knees to attack again. 

A jet of flame engulfed her right side, and Pyrrha collapsed to the ground screaming in pain her arm and leg blistering and burning as the fire ate away at her flesh. Suddenly she was being lifted into the air a hand closing tightly around her throat. 

“I am the woman who took this power! I was chosen!” Cinder growled into Pyrrha’s ear as she flailed weakly, “And I’ll be damned if you think you can take that from me.” 

“PYRRHA!” 

Pyrrha looked over and felt her heart drop even further than it already had. Ruby Rose was standing at the other end of Ozpin’s ruined office her scythe raised and ready to attack. 

“Put her down!” Ruby yelled at Cinder. 

“How adorable,” Cinder laughed evilly “You get to see what’s about to happen to you!” 

Cinder raised her hand a glass dagger forming in it before she drove it into Pyrrha’s chest. The white-hot glass cut through skin and muscle like butter. 

The world lost color, and Pyrrha felt herself fall. No, that wasn’t right. Through the pain clouding her mind, she could hear Ruby screaming her name as she charged Cinder. A brilliant silver light illuminating the entire area. She could hear Cinder’s panic as she threw Pyrrha aside to defend from the attack. Dimly she felt herself continuing to fall and listened to the wind rushing past her. Struggling to stay awake to help Ruby, she realized she must have fallen off the side of the tower. 

“I hope Jaune is safe.” she thought before the darkness took her.


	2. Chapter 2

It was calm, peaceful, quiet. Her body was light, being supported on all sides by liquid. The world felt so simple, so... natural. 

A voice drifted as if shouted across a lake, “We still don’t know what the effect is on her condition.” 

The words made little sense, and it was too hard to bring clarity to their meaning. 

A cold female voice spoke, cutting through the quiet like light through darkness, “Then proceed. You are not only a man of science, but you are also an adventurer; you’ve delved deeper than any man before you. You’ve paved a new road in evolution. If this procedure is possible, you must find it.” 

Silence prevailed again, broken only by a faint tapping. All was calm again; all was peace, all was quiet. 

Slowly gradually, another feeling replaced the peace. The calm faded as a hunger grew. A craving for destruction. No sooner did Pyrrha recognized the desire did its attention turn. Where it had just been apart of her, it turned in an attempt to consume and destroy her. Pyrrha tried to scream in pain, but the world faded before she could. 

*** 

The world around her slowly drifted into focus as she blinked groggily, trying to awaken her sleep-deadened limbs. Her head felt light, and it didn’t feel like she was in bed. She squinted blearily, attempting once more to clear the fog from her eyes. It took a moment to realize the murk existed as a brown, liquid-like substance she felt suspending her. She couldn’t determine what it was, only that it was too viscous to be water. 

Dimly, the fact that she was breathing drifted into her awareness. She hesitantly lifted her right hand to her face, fingers brushing over a mask that covered her mouth and eyes, but that wasn’t what made her freeze. Her wide-eyed gaze locked on the pale white flesh she knew could not belong to her. 

Dropping her hand to her side, Pyrrha squeezed her eyes shut. It had to be a trick of her mind. Pyrrha opened her eyes again. Panic filled her as she looked down at the rest of her body. The same pale skin met her eye, but what caused her heart to race faster was a sight that should have been reassuring. She wore the armor her parents had gifted her, but it was now a dark, oily black punctuated by sharp, bone-white spikes and plates. A myriad of needles and electrodes stuck to her at regular intervals. Everything felt like a horrible nightmare, one where she desperately wanted to wake up. 

She reached out to find something to grab or hold onto, jerking back when she felt a stinging pain as her hand hit a wall. Fear clawed into her chest as she felt around, and concluded a cylindrical enclosure surrounded her. The world started to spin as her heart beat faster, her breaths becoming more labored. She wanted out! She wanted these things off her! 

Somewhere deep inside of her, a part of Pyrrha responded. A black field encased each needle and the wiring of the electrodes, and for a split second, nothing happened. Then each object shot away from her as if fired from a gun, stopping when they impacted the walls. Metal screeched, and the glass shattered as the barrier around Pyrrha exploded outward, and she dropped to the ground, the liquid she’d been in flowing across the tiled floor. A part of her was curious about her surroundings, but a primal fear had overtaken any logical thought. She needed to get out -- she was in danger and needed to escape. 

She threw herself at the nearest wall, her hands scraping at the smooth surface. Unexpectedly, a section of the wall different than the rest, she hadn’t noticed in her need to escape, slid open, and an older man in a red turtleneck rushed breathlessly into the room. His mop of white hair and beard were disheveled as if he rarely cared for it, but his white lab coat was pristine. The most identifying feature was a monogram stamped on his chest -- the letter M arranged within a square.

“Pyrrha Nikos, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance finally!” 

She automatically fell into a crouch. She wasn’t sure who this man was, but she wouldn’t let him stop her from getting out.

As if reading her mind, his left eye lit up a bright red, and Pyrrha felt a shift in demeanor. No longer was he an older man, but someone who could pose a threat. “Please don’t try to escape, though I don’t doubt you would succeed, it would only be after much injury. We just patched you up, and it would be a shame to have to do it again. Right now, this is the only safe place for you.” 

Pyrrha looked at him in disbelief. She tried to speak, but only a hoarse cough escaped. Finally, she managed, “What... did you do?” 

The man smiled. There was no warmth in it, but it also wasn’t evil. “My dear girl, I saved your life.” 

Pyrrha looked down at her pale skin and the abomination that had been her armor. He continued, responding to the question before she could ask it, “Let me start from the beginning. My name is Dr. Merlot, and this is the foremost laboratory on Grimm research. We’ve made many discoveries of Grimm physiology and psychology. I found you at the foot of Beacon Tower clinging to life, though all indications of your injuries would have suggested you should be dead.” 

Beacon Tower? Why would she have been there, it was her dream to go to Beacon Academy. “I was injured at the tower?” 

The man’s smile became the smallest bit genuine as he looked at her with a sad expression. “My dear girl, you were the star student of Beacon, and defended it right to the end when it fell.” 

Pyrrha froze. A school getting attacked was unheard of -- war hadn’t happened in decades. But she couldn’t shake the sudden images of bodies of students and adults scattered across a ruined road, with signs of battle everywhere. “There was... a woman with fire.” 

The man nodded, “Yes. Cinder Fall -- she was the mastermind behind the attack.” 

“I... fought her.” 

He raised his eyebrows but didn’t seem surprised. “That would explain the burn injuries you sustained. That woman takes much delight in her power.” 

Pyrrha looked down at her body, the words he’d said earlier coming back into her mind as she felt herself calming down and regaining her cognitive abilities. “You didn’t answer me! What did you do to me!” Although she had a pretty good idea at this point. And his words only confirmed it. 

“I told you I saved your life.” 

“You turned me into a Grimm!” she shouted at him, the metal in the room visibly shifting away from her. Dr. Merlot winced as he was shoved back a few inches. Pyrrha could tell he was picking his next words carefully. 

“You must understand that by all logic, you should have been dead when I found you in the wreckage of that tower. Modern medicine, as we know it, is nothing more than a cover for the problem, slapping crude robotics over the issue in an attempt to fix that which is already lost. But during our studies, we discovered that Grimm could recover from wounds that should be impossible to survive.” 

Pyrrha nodded. She knew this. Her time training in Mistral had taught her that the creatures of Grimm were incredibly hardy and resilient. So why did she feel so revolted by them? “So, you what? Grafted Grimm skin on to me or something?” 

“Oh, that would have done nothing but cause further injury.” Dr. Merlot shook his head. “We had to change the very identity of your cells. Otherwise, the process could have been even more damaging.” 

Pyrrha felt her mouth drop open. “You what? How long have you been doing this?”   
The doctor seemed to ready himself for another outburst. “It’s been one year since we found you.”

Pyrrha took several steps back, unable to believe what she was hearing. Dr. Merlot gestured her out of the room. “We have more permanent accommodations. I understand that this is a lot to take in.” 

Dr. Merlot led her out of the room and though several hallways with only monitors for decoration along the walls. All were displaying the same M surrounded by a square on Merlot’s coat. 

“Where is everyone?” Pyrrha asked her panic, starting to subside, allowing for more rational thought to enter her head. 

“You remember this is a facility for the study of Grimm, don’t you? Grimm are already attracted to other Grimm. In particular older, stronger Grimm are known to gather herds of younger, weaker Grimm around them. If you add to that human emotion, can you imagine how difficult it would be to ensure the safety of anyone who worked here?” Dr. Merlot asked. Pyrrha made to answer him but was cut off, realizing he wasn’t asking a question as he continued, “It would be a nightmare! No, the fewer staff, the better we can conduct this important research.”

Pyrrha shot him a glance. “And you’re not worried I’ll mess up your perfect setup?” 

A genuine laugh escaped from the Dr. “My dear, the priority was saving your life, but I must admit I consider your presence here to be a fascinating variable in our experiments. So much so that if you’re willing, I’d like to ask for your assistance on several research experiments.”

Unsure what to make of his question Pyrrha opted to remain in silence as they continued to walk. She was about to ask where exactly they were going when he abruptly turned off the main corridor and into a smaller hall with doors at regular intervals. He pressed a button, and the nearest door slid open without a sound.

When she didn’t move, Dr. Merlot let out a disgruntled sigh. “My dear girl, I would hope that you would trust me more after all we’ve done to keep you alive.” but in the same breath, he changed from talking to her to talking to himself. “But maybe this is due to the operation, a side effect upon the subject that we couldn’t observe as it was not physical, but mental. Yes...” He began to walk away, lost in thought, muttering to himself, “Yes, yes, yes, I shall have to look into this more. How to verify this, though? We have no way of gathering a baseline from her original personality then her testimony, but if I could obtain validation of this theory it could revolutionize the way we think of Grimm psychology!” 

Pyrrha stood abandoned in the hallway as he rounded the corner and disappeared. Left alone, Pyrrha cautiously approached the room. The room was well lit, a screen on one wall displayed video of the outdoors. Peacefully waving trees moving in a night breeze, as Pyrrha watched, the display changed to a beach at night with the waves slowly rolling onto shore. Across from the screen, a bed was laid into the wall, a single light illuminating the alcove. Pressing down on the mattress as she passed, the material gave softly under her touch. At the back of the room, a door opened to an empty closet with space for several outfits to be stored. A mirror hung on the back of the closet door. Looking at her ghostly skin and what remained of her armor Pyrrha braced herself, stepping in front of the mirror.

The blood-red iris and black sclera made her blood freeze. For a moment, she saw not the reflection of herself, but the face of a heartless killer. She blinked, and the moment was gone, she saw herself again. Her crimson hair hung almost to her knees, still wet from the liquid. Her face was the same ghost white as her skin, but the black veins that spiderwebbed across her body ended at her neck, leaving her face unmarked. Adorning her head was a crown of bone. The structure protruded from her skull in a mockery of the champions’ crown she had won before coming to Beacon.

Slamming the door shut, she collapsed on the bed. Pressing the palm of her hand to her eyes, she felt the anger burning in her stomach, which the sound of birds chirping from the screen did nothing to alleviate. A whole year had passed. She had taken the first step to realize her dream of becoming a huntress. Of fulfilling her destiny to protect humanity, but she couldn’t remember any of it.

With a gasp, she sat upright. Merlot said that she had been found defending Beacon. Her family probably thought she was dead! She couldn’t do that to them. They deserved to know that she was alive! Jumping out of bed, she was out the door before realizing what she was doing. Slowly she turned around and made her way back to the closet, opening the door again and staring at her reflection: the murderous eyes, the bone crown.

How could she possibly talk with her parents when she was this monster. Looking down at her body, she tried to rub the white off her skin, hoping it might be a residue or something. Her body didn’t even change color from the friction. She pulled at her armor and screamed in frustration when it didn’t move. She punched the mirror, and it shattered to the ground the closet door dented from the force. Beating and pulling at the hideous plates that were once her armor, she heard a crack as one of the bones broke apart from the rest. Only to be followed by a pain that almost caused her to blackout. Collapsing to the floor yelling in pain, she looked down as black fluid leaked from between two pieces of what had been her breastplate. Another howl escaped her as she ripped free the piece of bone she had loosened from her body.

Pyrrha sank into the floor, the liquid pooling in her hands and dripping slowly onto the floor, where it mixed with her tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm glad to see the interest in this already. I'm excited to continue writing this. Keep in mind this will get dark as that's the trend of most of my stories. I felt like I needed to say that before going in as I feel it's important to be transparent.
> 
> Thank you so much for your support!
> 
> I hope you all have a great day, and as always. Keep moving forward.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that.
> 
> I needed to alter the end of Volume 3 a bit to make Pyrrha not just outright die. But I hope it's in a way that's still believable to Cinder's character.
> 
> As always if you have any comments, advice or thoughts I'd love to hear it.


End file.
